Field
This disclosure is generally related to distribution of digital content. More specifically, this disclosure is related to a system and method for selectively encrypting bit groups (such as name components) based on multiple symmetric keys in a content centric network message.
Related Art
The proliferation of the Internet and e-commerce continues to create a vast amount of digital content. Content centric network (CCN) architectures have been designed to facilitate accessing and processing such digital content. A CCN includes entities, or nodes, such as network clients, forwarders (e.g., routers), and content producers, which communicate with each other by sending interest packets for various content items and receiving content object packets in return. CCN interests and content objects are identified by their unique names, which are typically hierarchically structured variable length identifiers (HSVLI). An HSVLI can include contiguous name components ordered from a most general level to a most specific level.
Part of a CCN name can be used for routing purposes, and part of the name can contain sensitive data. For example, some name components may be used by an intermediate node to perform forwarding and caching, while other name components may contain private user information or application-specific data. Current CCN packet formats may include authentication as a primary objective, while previous CCN packet formats may include encryption functionality but are designed to encrypt only the payload while providing authentication for the entire packet. These packet formats do not allow for session-based and pair-wise encryption between two entities, nor do they provide a way to selectively encrypt portions of a CCN packet or message.